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Antam eyes domestic market to compensate bauxite sales amid export ban
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A truck driver watches over as an excavator loads his vehicle at a bauxite storage site in Bukit Goh situated in Malaysia's rural state of Pahang, on Oct. 13, 2015. (AFP /Manan Vatsyayana)
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tate-owned miner Aneka Tambang (Antam) said it had shifted its bauxite sales to the domestic market, with the company reporting that the efforts had paid off, compensating for the impact of Indonesia’s export ban on the commodity.
Elisabeth RT Siahaan, Antam’s finance and risk management director said on Thursday that the company’s bauxite production and sales had increased by 6 percent in the third quarter this year compared with the same period last year when exports were still allowed, as quoted from Kumparan.com.
This marked a turnaround after the company’s bauxite sales declined by around 30 percent and its production by 3 percent in the first half of this year.
The government decided to ban exports of bauxite and copper in June, expanding a similar policy it imposed on nickel in early 2020.
The ban is part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ambitions to spur the domestic downstream industry. In the case of bauxite, the government is seeking to have more of the commodity processed into alumina domestically, which is the raw material of aluminum.
Read also: Government braces for possible WTO case over ban on bauxite exports
Despite the ban, Elizabeth maintained confidence that the impact on the company’s bottom line would be limited, as bauxite only comprised 3 percent of its overall sales.
